Resultados del monitoreo

attention to teacher characteristics and actions that enable them to activate the physical and social affordances of the environment. For the purpose of this study, the characteristics and actions are considered through the notion of attunement.

Kirch (2007) states, “Attunement can be thought of as an interpretation or specific perception of what is happening in any given situation” (p. 790).

The importance of Kirch’s statement is that attunement can be used to identify the influence of teachers’ interpretations on the children’s potential science learning.

Integral to the interpretations teachers make is their understanding of the practices

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of the cultures involved (Kirch, 2007). As set out earlier, for this study the cultures of interest are everyday, ECE, science and science education.

Kirch (2007) notes that attunement for science learning depends on a teacher’s body of knowledge in science as well as their attunement to children’s interests and ideas about the physical world around them. Teachers linking access to science learning through children’s everyday community experiences has been discussed as meaningful/relevant connections when working with older learners (Aikenhead, 2006). Teachers thinking and acting to make these connections can be thought of as them being attuned to the opportunity to make links between children’s everyday and science ideas and practices. They need to be attuned to opportunities for meaningful science learning within children’s play in order to notice and respond in ways that provide meaningful contexts for children learning science (Fleer, 2009a, 2009b; Siry, 2013; Worth, 2010).

Also relevant but not mentioned in terms of attunement specifically is teachers’

attunement to ideas from science education — how children learn and can be assisted to learn science (Fleer, 2009a). Research on teachers’ understanding of children’s likely science-related ideas and ways to move these towards ways of scientists has illustrated the need for teachers’ professional learning about science and early childhood science education pedagogy (Watters, Diezmann, Grieshaber

& Davis, 2001; Fleer, 2009b). Important to this study is that teachers pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge includes how to facilitate science learning within an integrated curriculum. The complexity of this pedagogical challenge arises from the need for teachers to make connections across subject content (in this case science) and the everyday communities that children engage with through their children learning experiences and play (Hedegaard, 2002; Fleer, 2009b). While science education researchers do not always use the word attunement, the essence of its meaning can be seen to be implied within early childhood science education research that endorses the value of dialogue for learning (Siry, 2013; Siry et al., 2012; Siry & Lang, 2010)

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Being attuned to a learner and a learning situation involves entering into a responsive, dynamic and flexible state where interpretations change as learners and teachers interact as learning occurs (Roth, 2005). Put another way, a teacher’s attunement can be thought of as their responsiveness to the needs, interests and ideas of the children they are teaching, which often takes place as part of dialogue while children are engaged in play.

To conclude, Section 2.4.3 has directed attention to the influence teachers have on children’s science learning through their management of the physical and social contexts. Within teacher interaction the physical and social contexts can come together to support rich science learning for children (Eschach & Dor-Ziderman, 2011; Fleer, 2009b; Siry & Lang, 2010). The concept of affordance was introduced to explain that the potential for learning is not inherent in the physical or social environments. Rather children’s science learning relies in a large part on how teachers perceive the physical environment and children’s interactions with it as having potential for science-related or science-specific meaning-making.

Teachers’ attunement to and response to children’s ideas about the physical environment and the social supports teachers provide is what activates the affordances for children.

The concepts of affordance and attunement have only recently begun to be explored in early childhood science education. This study investigates their potential in understanding science teaching and learning in the context of a play-based curriculum. The hypothesis this researcher is putting forward is that when teachers take account of or engineer affordances for science learning in the physical and social environment and they are attuned to children’s interests and ideas, they are better able to scaffold children’s science thinking and interests through their interactions with children and this then creates opportunities for rich science learning.

34 2.9 Conclusion to chapter two

This chapter identifies and describes the three conceptual reference points that are used to frame this research project. The three conceptual reference points are multiple cultural communities of practice, semiotics within and across cultural communities, and teacher influence on children learning science. Together they point to a gap in the literature this thesis will address.

2.9.1 Identifying the research gaps

i. Multiple cultural communities of practice

This study aims to identify and analyse any links between the four cultural communities identified earlier in this chapter which are thought to influence children’s science learning. While there is research on the links between everyday and science communities of practice (Fleer, 2009a; Hedegaard & Chaiklin, 2005;

Siry, 2013), this research project investigates the inclusion and roles of two further communities — ECE and science education. This focus leads to the question of how the four identified cultural communities of practice influence science learning for the children within an integrated play-based curriculum.

Answering this question will extend the understandings on the dynamic interplay between the everyday, ECE, science and science education cultural communities in relation to how young children learn science.

ii. Semiotics within and across cultural communities

Researchers have begun to explore the types of resources useful for children’s science learning (Campbell & Jobling, 2012; Fleer, 2009a, 2009b; Johnston, 2005;

Alward et al., 2014; Worth, 2010). This thesis aims to extend this work by using semiotics and intertextuality as frameworks to analyse the artefacts children engage with in and for their science learning. The proposition is that the lens of semiotic artefacts and their interrelationship as part of children’s learning will add richness to the description and understanding of early childhood science pedagogy.

Eschach, Dor-Ziderman and Arbel (2011) acknowledge that the pedagogy of how young children learn science is still unclear. Investigating how science is enacted

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through semiotics and intertextuality will expand the understanding of the pedagogy of science learning for young children.

iii) Teachers’ influence on children learning science

Most of the research regarding teachers’ support for science learning has either been carried out on children five to eight years of age or outside the context of an early childhood centre play-based curriculum. Three studies have explored how teachers might afford children learning science within an integrated play-based learning environment (Fleer, 2009a, 2009b; Inan et al., 2010; Watters et al., 2001).

Further research is needed on how teachers’ might afford science processes of inquiry in and through the physical environment. There is also a need for further research on teachers’ attunement to science learning within the physical environment and teachers’ interactions with children, as these shape children’s science learning.

The next chapter will describe the methodology and research design used in this research project

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3 Research Methods and Design

“What does it mean to take a sociocultural perspective on science education? Most basically it means viewing science, science education, and research on science education as human social activities conducted within institutions and cultural frameworks” (Lemke, 2001, p. 296).

3.1 Introduction

This study aims to enhance the understanding of how science education takes place in early childhood play-based curriculum settings. In recent times research has begun to explore science learning and teaching within the parameters of a play-based curriculum (Fleer, 2009a, 2009b; Hedges, 2003; Inan et al., 2010).

This research project aims to add to the knowledge on how science learning and teaching is happening in play-based early childhood curriculum settings. This study orientation is not underpinned by a push down curriculum approach (from primary science education) but rather is pursuing a proactive stance towards the promotion of science learning within early childhood education play-based settings.

Two main questions frame this study:

1. How is science learning and teaching being enacted in three kindergartens?

2. Does enhancing teachers’ knowledge of science and early childhood science education enhance learning of science for young children in these three settings? If so, then how does this occur?

The openness of question one is deliberate. It aimed to gain an overview of how and when science learning and teaching was happening. The purpose of the second question is to illuminate teacher influences on children’s science learning within a play-based curriculum. Inherent within the idea of teacher influence is the need to attend to their understandings of the science communities’ knowledge and practices as well as science education, ECE pedagogy and children’s everyday lives.

38 3.2 Research framework

All research is informed by a number of related assumptions. Therefore, a research theoretical framework includes assumptions made about ontology, epistemology and the research methodology (Sarantakos, 2005; Waring, 2012).

As indicated by the focus in Chapter Two, the methodology is underpinned by sociocultural theory. Sociocultural perspectives have already been established within research on early childhood science education (Fleer, 1991; Fleer &

Robbins, 2003; Robbins, 2005; Siry, 2013). The general advantage of a sociocultural perspective in research is that it not only takes into account the interactions of individuals and their peers, but also how cultural tools (semiotic artefacts) influence learning (Lemke, 2001; O’Loughlin, 1992). The next sections identify the ontology, epistemology and methodology assumptions that have framed this study as sociocultural.

3.2.1 Ontological position

Ontology is concerned with the perception of the nature of reality. There are two broad contrasting positions related to ontology. The first position views reality objectively, emphasising that a singular reality exists independent of the person’s perception of it. The second position views reality as subjective, emphasising that people construct their realities. This second position, often referred to as constructivism, sees reality as neither singular nor objective (Waring, 2012).

Constructivism views the social world as being made up of a multitude of realities created by each individual (Waring, 2012). A constructivist view of reality allowed for the analysis of how children think about their engagement with the physical environment relative to the science communities. Constructivism also allowed for the analysis of teachers’ perceptions of science and how children learn science.

A sociocultural perception on the reality of learning aligned with the constructivist idea that individuals create realities for themselves. These

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individual constructs of reality are influenced by the communities where they belong (Sarantokos, 2005). A sociocultural perspective acknowledges groups of people construct a reality based on common goals, customs, values and beliefs (Wadham et al, 2007; Wenger, 1998). Different group realities can be referred to as cultural communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991). In educational research where teachers’ and children’s realities are important for understanding the learning and teaching process, a sociocultural approach to reality is a good fit for purpose. The reality of science learning and teaching in the three kindergartens is found in the complex integration of the ‘realities’ perceived by individual children and teachers. In this science education research project, the researcher’s perceptions of the science learning that took place also became part of the integration of realities, as the researcher was a participant observer. The reality of science education in the researched contexts is also influenced by the teachers’ perceptions of the four identified communities of practice. This thesis asserts that by accepting the rich complex understandings of both individual and cultural communities’ realities, an enhanced understanding of science learning and teaching within play-based curriculum contexts can be gained.

3.2.2 Epistemological position

Epistemology is concerned with how people know what they know (Waring, 2012). In other words, “What is the way in which reality is known to us?”

(Sarantakos, 2005, p. 30). Knowledge like reality can be framed in a variety of ways. The binary that tends to be explored within the notion of epistemology is that of positivist and interpretivist views of how knowledge is perceived (Waring, 2012). Positivism is a view that knowledge exists externally to the learner and is in the world to be observed and understood. Interpretivism positions knowledge as an interpretation of the world, meaning it can be different for different individuals and for different cultural communities (Waring, 2012). Sociocultural theory promotes knowledge as being constructed by communities of practice rather than being out in the world waiting to be discovered. Learners make meaning through social interaction with others in a community and come to understand the values and practices (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Sarantakos, 2005).

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Saranakos (2005) explains, “Here the construction of meaning is based on culturally defined and historical situated interpretations and personal experience”

(p. 39).

This quote by Saranakos fits with the sociocultural focus of this study and accepts that children learn in the early childhood environment from their peers and teachers, as well as from the communities to which they belong (Carr, 2001b;

Claxton, 2002; Wadham et al., 2007; Wenger, 1998). Children’s learning is embedded within the contexts they experience. Therefore, meaning-making is derived through transactions between people and objects (Lemke, 2001). In the words of Te Whāriki, children learn through their participation with people, places and things (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 43).

3.2.3 Interpretive, ethnographic study

A qualitative interpretivist research design was employed within this research project. The focus was on capturing an authentic narrative from the three kindergarten early childhood education settings (Hughes, 2001). The research interpretive focus was on understanding teachers’ perceptions of children’s thoughts and actions that could count as science-related or science-specific learning. It included children’s interpretations of their meaning-making about the physical environment, specifically relative to their engagement with practice linked to science community of practice. This research explored these interpretations within three kindergartens to make sense of science-related or science-specific learning and teaching.

There are a number of different approaches to interpretive methodology (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2000). The approach used in this study is ethnomethodology.

Ethnomethodology explores a wide range of social activity, seeking to understand how people make sense of their world (Cohen at el., 2000). Ethnomethodology is based on three assumptions as set out by Wood (1979; cited in Cohen, et al, 2000).

The first assumption is that people act towards objects and experiences based on the meaning they have for them and their meaning-making is influenced by two

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different worlds. One world is the physical environment and another world is the social environment. The social world is derived of symbols that enable people to attribute meaning to objects and events. Ethnomethodology provides a research platform for considering the meaning given to artefacts by children and teachers in their meaning-making in relation to science learning and teaching.

The second assumption of ethnomethodology is that “attributing of meaning to objects through symbols is a continuous process” (Cohen, et al, 2000, p. 25).

This recognises that people individually construct, modify and negotiate meaning throughout their lives. There is a strong parallel here between this individual process of change of understanding over time with how communities of practice can also evolve and change over time (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wadham et al., 2007). The interconnection between individual’s placing meaning on objects and communities’ meanings for objects was considered in this study through the notion of semiotics.

The third assumption of ethnomethodology is that the process of modification of meaning takes place through social contexts. Social contexts for learning happen within the cultural communities where people reside (Claxton, 2002; Lave &

Wenger, 1991; Rogoff, 2003; Wadham et al., 2007; Wenger 1998). This study investigated the modification of meaning children and teachers made as they learnt more about the science community’s knowledge and practice.

Ethnomethodology as a methodology supports this research project in contextualising a sociocultural perspective within the research as a whole. Within this methodology a case study approach was adopted to study the complex phenomena of science learning within three play-based curriculum settings (Baxter & Jack, 2008, p. 544).

3.2.4 Case study approach

Case study is well established in educational research (Yin, 2014). A case study approach allows for the capture of data from real people in real situations and

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provides an in-depth perspective of what is happening within the setting being studied (Cohen et al., 2000; Flick, 2006; Merriam, 1998; Yin, 2014).

There are three conditions within a research investigation that indicate a case study approach is warranted. The three conditions are: “(a) the type of research question posed, (b) the extent of control a researcher has over actual events, and (c) the degree of focus on contemporary as opposed to entirely historic events”

(Yin, 2014, p. 781). This research investigation meets all three of these conditions. The questions posed focus on how learning and teaching happens or could happen within the culture of early childhood education in New Zealand.

Research information was wanted about how science learning and teaching occurs in a ‘natural’ setting, as experimental controls would not yield the required information. Finally, the research was set within the present rather than the past in terms of data collection. Hence, a focus on each kindergarten as a case was a good fit for this study.

3.3 Research design

The research project used purposive sampling to identify the three kindergartens (Tracy, 2013). The purposive selection process was based on all the teachers at each kindergarten being committed to the ideas of the research project and consenting to be involved. The Auckland Kindergarten Association agreed to be involved. The Auckland Kindergarten Association sent a message to all their kindergartens seeking kindergartens who were interested in participating in the research. Three kindergartens responded and so were selected to participate in the research project. The research then proceeded through the six stages detailed next.

3.3.1 Six stages of the research programme

There were six stages to this research project. Once informed consent was gained, the researcher spent one morning a week in each of the kindergartens for the duration of the data gathering stages of the research project. The attended session (4.5 hours) at each kindergarten occurred on the same morning each week for the duration of the data gathering. The researcher arrived with the teaching staff in the

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morning and left once all the children had departed at the end of the session. Each stage of the research is described below.

Stage one: The researcher shared information about the research project and gained consent from the Kindergarten Association and all teaching staff of each of the three kindergartens.

Stage two: First three weeks in the kindergartens. This was the time for the researcher to familiarise herself with the three kindergartens and begin to build relationships with the teachers, children and parents by participation in sessions.

Giving time for the researcher to become familiar with the contexts and build relationships with the children, teachers and parents in the kindergartens supported access to quality data (Anning & Edwards, 1999; Robbins, 2007). This was also the time when, with the teachers’ advice on process, a random sample of six children and one of their parents/guardians from each kindergarten was selected as the participant children/parent group. This was also the time for the researcher to collect descriptive observations of the overall contexts of the three kindergartens. The researcher collected information on demographics, physical environments and the overall assessment and planning procedures, and teachers’

general views on the curriculum they presented to the children.

Stage three: The following seven weeks. During this time there was focussed

Stage three: The following seven weeks. During this time there was focussed